Very Merry Benders
by avatarfan82
Summary: Mako hates Christmas while Korra is over-excited about the holiday. After inviting Korra and Mako over to their place in honor of the holiday season, Jinora is a nervous wreck and Bolin is struggling to keep everything running smoothly. Will this turn out to be a beautiful family gathering or the dinner party from hell?


**I just had this urge to write a Christmas story since we're 3 days away now. Some suspension of disbelief is required to allow for the *characters to actually celebrate this holiday, so I'm giving fair warning up front. I hope you enjoy and have a wonderful holiday season!**

***Of course, I don't own these characters!**

* * *

Everything had to be perfect for tonight. It would be their first time presenting their condo to guests as a couple. Jinora frantically ran around putting away pillows and folding blankets in the guest room. She felt like there wasn't enough time to get anything done and there was very little time left for further preparation.

Just as she was running back into the guest bathroom to straighten the toilet paper on the roll for the third time, Bolin walked out of the master bedroom and almost crashed into the brown-haired blur that passed in front of him.

"Jin, what are you doing?" he asked in confusion as she wandered around the bathroom.

"I just don't think this looks exactly right." She murmured, more to herself than anyone. "I wish I had more time."

"Hey, it's fine. Toilet paper always looks good on the roll." Bolin insisted. Jinora didn't turn from what she was doing and he could tell by her body language that she was highly agitated. He placed a hand on her shoulder and, with a gentle but firm grip, turned her toward him. When he looked in her eyes, he was shocked to see fear in them.

"What's wrong? Do you want me to get some new toilet paper? I'll be happy to." he asked, true concern in his voice. Jinora couldn't help but let out a sigh of exasperation.

"Bolin, I don't give a damn about the toilet paper!"

Suddenly angry, she shrugged his hand off of her shoulder and stormed past him into the living room. Bolin was completely confused by her outburst, but followed her anyway.

"Jinora, I don't get it. What's the big deal?" he asked, finally reaching her and joining her on the couch.

"This dinner is the big deal! Mako and Korra have to enjoy themselves tonight, because it's their first time visiting us here and I don't know how they're going to react to our announcement." she said.

Bolin smiled as he wrapped a strong arm around her shoulders.

"Don't worry about them and don't stress about our announcement. If it doesn't seem right, then we just won't tell them yet."

Jinora seemed somewhat satisfied with that plan, but appeared to still have some reservations.

"Besides, good luck getting Mako to enjoy a dinner party during the holidays. The man hates Christmas." Bolin continued, as if he had just spoken an unimportant after thought. Jinora's mouth dropped open as she stared wide-eyed at Bolin.

"What? Are you serious?!"

Before anyone had a chance to speak further, a loud knock sounded at the door. Bolin placed a hand gently on the side of Jinora's face as he softly pressed his lips to hers in a quick but tender kiss. Then he stood and headed toward the door. Jinora swallowed loudly and tried to calm her pounding heart. She wasn't ready for this night to begin, but she had no choice in the matter. On top of that, now she had to contend with the fact that the main person she wanted to impress was most likely going to be in a bad mood. Part of her wanted to strangle Bolin for leaving out such an important detail about his brother that could potentially make this whole situation that much more difficult, but the other part of her knew he meant well and was just oblivious at times.

She took one last deep breath and turned toward the door just in time to hear Bolin greeting the couple.

"Korra! Mako! So good to see you!" he said as if he hadn't seen them in years and wasn't expecting to see them tonight.

"Hey, Bo!" Korra said, kindly mirroring his tone and accepting his bear hug. Mako took that moment to slip in behind his wife, narrowly avoiding being swept into a group bear hug. He then spotted Jinora standing awkwardly off to the side and waved.

"How are you, Jin?" he asked and she nodded uncertainly.

"I'm okay." She said timidly. She was always a little uneasy around Mako because they still didn't know each other well, but having to engage in small talk with him was downright uncomfortable.

Once Bolin and Korra had finished their greetings, Korra wrapped Jinora in a warm hug. After they parted, Jinora stared at Korra's clothing and raised an eyebrow.

"So, yeah. This sweater is…interesting." she said, touching a felt Christmas tree that was hanging from the garment.

"Yeah, don't you think it's awesome? I wanted to find one that screamed Christmas!" Korra said excitedly.

"Well, then, I think you more than accomplished your goal." Jinora said, struggling to respond without directly giving an opinion on what she was wearing. Korra had on a green and red knitted sweater, covered with patch-worked candy canes, stockings, and santa hats. It also had little strings of garland in a criss-cross pattern with other various felt odds and ends. It was hideous.

"You're too nice, Jin. That sweater is the ugliest thing ever made." Mako chimed in, and Korra glared at him.

"Mako, obviously this isn't the most attractive sweater, but I'm trying to get into the spirit here. One of us has to." She said curtly.

Mako rolled his eyes, as he muttered, "I hate this holiday."

"See? That's exactly what I'm talking about! Your little brother and his girlfriend are trying to show us a nice evening and you have to keep dwelling on that same old story. Can't you just pretend to be nice about this?"

"I am being nice about it. The fact that I showed up here with you wearing that ridiculous sweater is proof of that."

Clearly, this was a carry-over from a previous argument because they transitioned so smoothly into hurling insults at each other.

Bolin and Jinora shared an uneasy glance as Mako and Korra prepared to continue their battle. The special announcement that Jinora was so keen on giving seemed less and less likely to happen. Bolin felt badly for the woman he loved and decided to jump in to try to prevent a massive altercation between his brother and sister-in-law.

"Let's eat!" he yelled suddenly, unable to come up with anything else to say at the moment.

Jinora breathed a sigh of relief as she smiled at him and he returned the gesture. Even with the moments where she wanted to airbend furniture at him out of frustration, she had many more moments like this where her love for him was overflowing.

Moments later, all of the food was on the table and the four benders sat down to eat. The spread was amazing, with various meats, appetizers, and side dishes covering every inch of the modest dining table. With all of the food staring them in the face, no one was showing any desire whatsoever to make a plate.

"C'mon, guys. I'm trying to be polite and let you eat first, but I'm about to forget about manners and dig in." Bolin warned playfully

There was a moment of more silence and Bolin glanced at Jinora who was staring down at her napkin intently, as if waiting for something to go wrong. She didn't have to wait too long, unfortunately.

"Well, dear, are you going to eat some of this delicious Christmas food, or complain about it all night?" Korra said, unable to resist taking another jab at her husband. Mako carefully set down the glass that he had just taken a drink from and matched Korra's unwavering glare.

"I would ask you if you wanted some food, but you're too busy giving me a hard time to eat anything, I'm sure." He retorted.

Bolin set down his utensils and ran a hand through his hair. Of all the nights for them to have one of their epic blow outs, why did it have to be this one? Jinora continued to stare down at her lap and Bolin couldn't make heads or tails of her emotions. The one thing he did know was that he was ready to strangle his brother and the avatar.

"Mako, why do you have to go and ruin a perfectly good holiday celebration? Are you that selfish?" Korra continued, angrily.

Mako rolled his eyes. "You're the one making a big deal out of this, Korra. I was content to eat dinner and hang out, but you seem determined to keep that from happening."

As the two continued to go back and forth, Jinora could feel her anxiety spiking. She felt a build up of frustration overtaking her and only wanted this nightmare to end. Before she knew what was happening, she suddenly blurted out,

"Bolin and I are engaged!"

Silence invaded the room as Mako and Korra stopped in the middle of their respective hurtful remarks and stared in shock at the couple. Bolin shook his head in defeat. Somehow, he figured it might come down to this.

"We were trying to surprise you because no one else has heard about it yet. I wanted this dinner to be special, but never mind." she continued, tears stinging her eyes. Before anyone could react, Jinora got to her feet and quickly left the room, disappearing into the bedroom. After the door unceremoniously slammed shut, Bolin sighed heavily.

"Bo, I'm so sorry about this." Korra said, a look of genuine embarrassment on her face.

"Yeah, bro. We were being childish." Mako said sheepishly.

"I appreciate that, but Jin's the one who really needs to be apologized to. This meant a lot to her and she was really nervous all day about it."

The three of them sat silently at the table unsure of what to do next. Finally, one member of the group stood and headed to the bedroom to try to mend the situation with the young airbender.

* * *

Jinora sat on the bed trying to regain control of her emotions. Why had she reacted that way? She felt like a petulant child, but she couldn't hide her disappointment at how badly the dinner was going. It was as if every single aspect of the evening was going opposite of what she envisioned.

At that moment, a knock sounded at the door. Jinora assumed it was Bolin coming to talk to her, so she half-heartedly replied, "Come in."

To her surprise, it was Mako who stood in the doorway of the bedroom.

"You sure it's okay if I come in?" he asked tentatively and Jinora nodded silently after getting over the initial shock. He made his way into the room and perched himself at the edge of the bed, trying to give her as much personal space as needed.

"Look, I'm really sorry about all of that in there. Korra and I have been having an off day today and you guys just happened to see it come to a head." Mako started to explain, but Jinora held up a hand to signal that there was no explanation needed.

"It's okay. I didn't know until just before you guys arrived that you don't like this time of year. I should have thought this through more." She said, feeling silly for not realizing it before. They had been around each for several years now and still knew very little about each other.

"No, it's not okay. Just because I'm uncomfortable doesn't give me the right to act like a jerk. I truly am sorry."

"Thanks, Mako." She said quietly.

He got to his feet then, saying," How about we head back out there? I think the food is starting to get cold."

Jinora managed a small smile as she stood. As soon as she was on her feet, Mako wrapped an arm around her shoulders and gave her a gentle squeeze.

"Congratulations on the engagement, by the way. It took that knucklehead long enough. I guess I should be calling you little sis, now, huh?"

Jinora produced a wide grin as they both headed back out to the living room. Once they exited the room, Korra showered her with apologies and hugs, which Jinora found embarrassing, but also sweet. She immediately demanded to see the ring, but Jinora put her foot down. She wouldn't start wearing it until they shared the news with her parents and she wanted to unveil it to everyone at the same time.

The group sat back down at the table and began to eat their meals, and even Mako had to admit that he was thoroughly enjoying the "Christmas" food. After dinner was finished, Bolin and Jinora gathered the dishes and brought them into the kitchen. Secretly, they were both hoping to catch a moment alone, away from Mr. and Mrs. Grumpy (Bolin's nickname for them when they started arguing). Once they had set everything down, Bolin slid an arm around her waist and gazed deeply into her eyes.

"How are you holding up?" he said gently, and she nodded.

"Much better now. I thought I was going to have a break down earlier."

"I know, right? I mean, who argues like that at a dinner party?" Bolin agreed. Jinora giggled and then reached up to share a kiss with her fiancé. As soon as their lips touched, she felt her body respond and she instinctively slid her arms around his neck and pressed her body close to his. Bolin slowly ran his hands up and down her waist, venturing as low as the curvature of her hips.

After a few more moments, they parted, slightly breathless, but satisfied with their momentary physical contact. Bolin, with his arms still resting on her waist, then tilted his head in the direction of the other room and said, "You sure you want in on this family? There's still time for you to make your escape…maybe find a safe place away from all the craziness." He said, smirking.

Jinora wrapped her arms around him tightly as she rested her head on his chest.

"Not to sound cheesy, but you are my safe place, Bo." She replied simply. Bolin smiled as he kissed the top of her head.

"That definitely sounded cheesy and I'm perfectly okay with it."

They both chuckled and then shared one last kiss before grabbing desserts and preparing to return to their guests. As they walked back into the living room, Bolin whispered,

"Merry Christmas, Jin."

Jinora smiled to herself, realizing that, for the first time that day, she actually believed those words to be true.


End file.
